Top Touring Tips

[dragon72]

Just got back from a wee tour and thought of another.

Pack stuff you need to access during the ride in the left-hand side panniers, if it won't fit in the bar bag.

I dunno about you, but I always park my bike with me standing to the left of the bike and the bike's right side leaning on something. This means it's much easier to access stuff in the left hand side panniers. For me, anyway.

 

[Arch]

oh yes, how true!

Nice one.

 

[Arch]

Although it occurs to me that I nearly always approach my trike from the right. Weird!

 

[toroddf]

Don't wake up or even annoy sleeping seagulls.
I did that one evening and was bombarded with (acid) bird-droppings and small rocks by the seagulls. I have yet to repeat that mistake. Always use helmet when cycling.

 

[Echolalia]

Treat every compartment in your bags as a room in your house. Simples.

 

[Arch]

Treat every compartment in your bags as a room in your house. Simples.

Nice, but I live in a bedsit, so it's everything goes everywhere for me!

 

[Echolalia]

Is that why you use Ortlieb Rollers then?

 

[Echolalia]

Take a pair of jeans or trousers, the feeling at the end of the day - changing out of your cycle gear into a warm pair of trousers makes me relax, feel warm and my legs feel they deserve to be covered after all that air.

 

[Echolalia]

Got this from a Swiss guy we met touring in Norway last year who said that a Dutch guy told him this tip.

Carry a chopstick with you, very useful to get your chain back on without getting your hands covered in oil!

Used it a couple of times and it works a treat.

Also found it useful for cleaning the mud out of your cleats and moving a washing up greeny around in the bottom of a flask to remove the accumulated grolly snot.

I'm sure there are other uses that you lot could dream up!

Carried one all for over 2000 miles on a two month tour, didn't use it once. Get back to London, cycling through Sutton to see a friend and a child's chain has stuck in his front chainring, bike is upside down. I stop, take the chopstick and say "That's why I carried it!" then pry off the chain. Another serendipitous moment whilst travelling.

 

[HelenD123]

One for the ladies. Pack a dress for touring. It felt a bit extravagent, somehow, taking a dress on tour but I must have used it every single day for the past 7 weeks. As modelled here:

It's very lightweight cotton and doesn't need to be ironed. I use it instead of a towel as it dries very quickly and I even throw it on to walk back from the shower block when camping even if it's still damp. It's also great for putting on over swimwear to walk to the beach. I like having something smarter to wear on occasion (such as out celebrating Canada Day in the photo, the colours just happened to be perfect!) and something that's non-cycling. For cooler days I team it with footless black tights which, in turn, double as warm sleep wear.

 

[Brock]

Never lose another valve cap when inflating tyres by popping it into one of the little holes on your brooks saddle. I expect my genius now to be acknowledged.

 

[Barbelier]

Never lose another valve cap when inflating tyres by popping it into one of the little holes on your brooks saddle. I expect my genius now to be acknowledged.

Pure genius! The simplest ideas are the best.

 

[dragon72]

ear plugs for a good night's sleep at busy campsites

 

[HelenD123]

ear plugs for a good night's sleep at busy campsites

Or for when the noise of that headwind gets too much. I tried it in desperation the other day.

 

[dollshousegirl]

Charge MTB'ers £5 to have their picture taken sitting on a real bike

i like this... makes me laugh !! in fact a few of your posts have a bizzare wit about them (i like it)